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Gusts of wind pushed the nation’s largest wildfire towards a county seat in northern California as firefighters struggled to contain the month-long blaze as the weather forecast was more dangerous.
Afternoon winds gusting to 30 mph (48 km / h) on Monday pushed the Dixie Fire a few miles outside of Susanville and triggered evacuation orders for Janesville, a small nearby mountain community, have said the firefighters.
CALIFORNIA FIRE THREATENS HOUSES AS FIRES BURN IN WEST
Susanville, with approximately 18,000 residents, is the seat of Lassen County and the largest city neared by the fire. The former forest and mining town of the Sierra Nevada has two state prisons, a nearby federal prison, and a casino.
Ashes fell from the on-going blaze and a police department statement urged residents “to be vigilant and ready to evacuate” if the blaze threatens the city, although no formal evacuation warning has been issued. been issued.
Bulldozers had cut the fire lines on the way to the blaze heading north, but “many of our lines are currently being tested,” firefighter spokesman David Janssen said.
A firefighter battles the Dixie blaze along Highway 89 in Lassen National Forest, Calif., Monday, August 16, 2021. Critical weather conditions across the region threaten to spread several wildfires across northern California.
(AP Photo / Noah Berger)
The National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch until Thursday in the region due to afternoon winds that could occasionally blow at 35 mph (56 km / h), propelling flames.
The weather forecast prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to warn that it could cut power to 48,000 customers in parts of 18 counties from Tuesday evening through Wednesday afternoon to prevent winds from knocking down or throwing debris into them. power lines and start new forest fires. Most of these customers are in Butte and Shasta counties, which have experienced a number of deadly and devastating wildfires in recent years, including the Dixie Fire.
Investigations are continuing, but Pacific Gas & Electric has informed utility regulators that the Dixie and Fly fires may have been caused by falling trees in its power lines. The Dixie fire started near the town of Paradise, which was devastated by a 2018 wildfire ignited by PG&E equipment during high winds. Eighty-five people have died.
The Dixie Fire has burned over 900 square miles (2,331 square kilometers) in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades since it ignited on July 13 and eventually merged with a smaller fire called Fly Fire. That’s less than a third contained by lines of fire.
As the Dixie Fire burns near Susanville, Calif., Gary Mooney prepares to evacuate his home on Monday, August 16, 2021.
(AP Photo / Noah Berger)
Ongoing damage investigations have identified more than 1,100 buildings destroyed, including 625 houses, and more than 14,000 structures remained at risk. Numerous evacuation orders were in effect.
The small forest town of Westwood was still under evacuation order and lines of protection were maintained, but fire remained a threat.
“There are still people who stay in there,” Janssen said. “We hope it doesn’t go bad there and we need to change our mission of protecting structures to save lives… Our biggest concern right now is that people don’t take evacuation seriously.”
California was battling several other massive fires, including one that started on Saturday southeast of the Dixie blaze in El Dorado County, which had grown to around 9 square kilometers (3.5 square miles) and caused evacuations.
Rose Mooney carries photos of her home, which is the subject of an evacuation warning, as the Dixie Fire burns near Susanville, Calif. On Monday, August 16, 2021.
(AP Photo / Noah Berger)
The Dixie Fire is the largest of nearly 100 major wildfires that have burned down in more than a dozen Western states that have experienced historic drought and weeks of high temperatures and dry weather that have left trees, brush and grassland as flammable as tinder.
According to the National Fire Interagency Center, two dozen fires were burning in Montana and nearly 50 more in Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
In Montana, a fire that started Monday near Hays has burned about 20 square kilometers and residents of the tiny Zortman enclave and surrounding areas have been told of a possible evacuation.
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The US Forest Service said last week it was operating in crisis mode, with more than double the number of firefighters deployed compared to the same time a year ago. More than 25,000 firefighters, support staff and management teams have been assigned to the US fires.
Climate change has made the western United States hotter and drier over the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more destructive, scientists say.
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